Many of you will know Yogi Berra all too well already but one of our favourite quotes of his is "No one goes there nowadays, it’s too crowded”. It nicely sums up various equity trades through the first half of the year and exemplifies why we founded Finstock Capital: to do something different and maintain control of our destiny. We were reminded in a recent meeting with a management team of the importance of ‘not being a busy fool’ and this has been one of our aims for the first few months - find a niche and do it well. Don't try and do everything!

We have two strands of the business: short-term bridge financing and long-term private equity deals.

With the short-term deals, we have found our niche in providing high-growth, technological companies with capital secured against their government grants (R&D tax credits). In this way we can support these companies while managing the overall risk that we are exposed to and are willing to take. We have now completed a number of these and are officially open for more business. Know anyone awaiting a credit from HMRC? Then please do get in touch.

For the long-term private equity deal, we have now met a large number of attractive and well run businesses in the sectors that we like. We are yet to come to final terms but through meeting a wide range of knowledgeable and experienced contacts, we feel we are getting close. The reasons that we entered this market (VCT and EIS rule changes; valuation opportunities; and fragmented markets) have not changed and we continue to meet strong management teams seeking investment to propel them to the next stage. It is a competitive market but we feel that our focus on the lower end of the UK SME market sets us apart from others and we can add value to well run businesses looking to take the next step in their long-term growth story.